User blog:Bookworm1138/Thoughts on Four Years of Metal Experience
DISCLAIMER': I have had plenty of experience and I can give you links to websites and videos to back my reasonings, so my points are not groundless. About four years ago (2006), I came to the realization that listening to pop music and watching popular television shows was going nowhere, because then I wasn't really me, I was just doing what everyone else was doing, and therefore I turned my back on the glamor and glitter and turned to the darkside. Though this was obviously the turning point, the seeds had been planted long ago. With a racist parent forbidding any rap or hip-hop on account that the artists are usually black (which has contributed to my disdain for the genre), back in the early pre-2006 years I turned my attention to finding 'white rappers' who were better than Eminem. This brought me to several nu metal bands such as Linkin Park, Disturbed, P.O.D., System Of A Down and Papa Roach. But that whole world was about to be shocked one day in 2000/2002. After watching Mission: Impossible 2 all the way through, I clicked the music video link, thinking it was the theme song "Take A Look Around." But that was not it: it was Metallica!!! I Disappear was harder, heavier and ballsier than any nu metal or pop songs I had heard up till then. Here was I first introduced to what I believed to be true metal (now I see that it's only me who considers anything from Metallica's post-1986 discography to be true metal). In 2006, the slow inundation of metal came with the introduction of more by Metallica. Ride The Lightning, ...And Justice For All and ReLoad were the first albums I heard from them, and '''''ALL of them (yes, I said all, even ReLoad) had the same kind of hard-n-heavy feel that I loved from I Disappear. Then came the unmemorable Black Album (I didn't even start really listening to Enter Sandman until I heard from my music teacher that it was talking about "possessions by evil spirits", as if), S&M, Garage Inc. and St. Anger. But yet, even as more metal was coming in with some metalcore and hard rock bands, the pop-ideology was still there for, like a trend-follower, I subscribed to the pop-metal-trend of "St. Anger sucks" without really listening to the album first. Coming later were Death Magnetic, Master of Puppets, Load and Kill 'Em All. DM was easily unmemorable, but Master was even then disturbing to my ears (80s James looks like an Aryan-bastard - the blond-hair-blue-eyed types that Hitler loved - who have hated me since day one, and that laugh he made at the end of the title track was identical to the mocking laughter of the Aryan-f***s), and all the rest of the tracks didn't really hold anything with me (I found Orion to be boring after Cliff's little distorted bass number near the beginning). Originally, I followed pop-metal-trends by saying that Load was a bad album because Mama Said sounded too country, but Kill 'Em All sounded like James Hetfield on helium. After much inner struggle, I discovered that I wasn't being any different from how I was before metal by hating on St. Anger, and, song-by-song, I grew to accept it as a worthy metal album. But then, in 2007/2008, came the advent of extreme metal. When my brother (the sole supplier of heavy music in our house) got bored of Marilyn Manson and Insane Clown Posse, then came Cradle Of Filth, Amon Amarth, Behemoth, Cannibal Corpse and Dimmu Borgir. At first disgusted by the hideousness of Cradle and the outright evilness of DB, the sheer gothic-ness of the one and the epicness of the other got me hooked to them. About this time, one metal-band that I discovered all on my own was Týr, a progressive-viking-folk-metal-band. By 2008, I had purchased Land with my own money, thereby starting my own collection of metal! It was around 2008 that, while looking for information on Týr, I stumbled across www.metalstorm.ee. Little did I know what I was getting into! Shortly thereafter, my brother exposed me to Kamelot (only because "March of Mephisto" had Shagrath from DB in it), and hence I found a less-evil but just as epic genre to become a fan of. Seeking more exposure, I began taking interest in the Guitar Hero video games. Pretty much all of my non-Metallica, non-extreme, non-viking, non-symphonic, non-black, non-US metal-bands I discovered through Guitar Hero. But it is not JUST because of Guitar Hero that I like those bands: I discovered Iron Maiden from Guitar Hero and I don't like them, nor do I like Slayer and, (it was formerly true, not so anymore) Megadeth as well. Around 2008, I also became involved with youtube, and was exposed suddenly to the wider world of metal-heads. Slowly I began to see trends appearing: some bands were permitted to 'change their sound', while others were called sell-outs for doing so, some bands could be popular and loved by all in the metal-scene, but they were not considered mainstream until they have one single fan from outside the genre, some bands could do cover-songs 'better than the original' while others sucked for doing so - even if it really was better than the original - some bands were considered to be total shite if their guitarist played the way someone didn't like, or if their singer didn't sound the way they liked, but other bands could go through billions of line-up changes and never receive any hate for it. As I watched, I began to see that all of the negative things I said about above were directed at bands I liked such as Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Evanescence (call them gothic rock if you want, but that's still close enough to be just regular metal, even nu metal) and basically every band in the metalcore and nu metal scenes. I tried to listen to the music that the crowd considered good, but Slayer got boring and a little disappointing, what with vocals that sound like they were recorded while under the influence of sodomy and two guitar solos that sounded like two novices playing over each other to mask how bad they were. I listened to Dio's "Holy Diver" just once and I just couldn't like it, it didn't feel right, hard or heavy at all, just a little man who growled on every high-and-low-note and everyone loved him and flamed on Killswitch Engage videos for it. After listening to Iron Maiden on Guitar Hero, I thought they were cool and good music to listen to...and then I heard Cradle Of Filth's version of Hallowed Be Thy Name, which was suddenly fast, hard, heavy and dark - just the way I like it. And I couldn't see what was with all the hatred the band got for it, so I decided to listen to the original...and was unamused at the slow, up-beat, happiness of it, coupled with Bruce Dickinson's annoying tenor singing voice. It became annoying, comparing the two and feeling attracted to the one that everyone hated. Eventually, trying to listen to other Iron Maiden songs, I found myself listening to the covers first, and realized that I really didn't like the band....and I still don't. Well, apparently metalstorm.ee allows its users to flame-and-troll on any blog-post or review article about bands that are mutually hated (like Metallica, Ozzy, Cradle, metalcore and nu metal bands) with impunity unmatched, and even though the site has rules against this sort of behavior, looks the other way when those rules are broken in regards to the hated bands. BUT WOE TO ANYONE WHO DARES SPEAK AGAINST IRON MAIDEN, SLAYER AND THE HOLY DIO, FOR THEN SHALL THE RULES BE ENFORCED IN FULL AND THOU SHALT BE BANISHED FROM THE SITE FOREVER!!!!! Well, it's now 2010. I like Megadeth as well as Metallica, Motörhead kicks ass, and I still don't like Iron Maiden, Dio, Slayer or Tarja Turunen. And I've also learned something - that metal, which originally was about being rebellious against the hypocritical establishment, has become hypocritical itself. 1. There is an establishment in metal - one that idolizes Iron Maiden, Dio, Slayer and other bands of the like, except for Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Nightwish and other bands which are hated by metal-heads. 2. The 'rules' of metal are broken by bands that are considered "good" - for instance, everyone now hates Nightwish because Tarja Turunen was given the boot-in-the-ass for being a diva and they call Anette Olzon a pop-b*tch, to say the very least...well, you had no problem when Ronnie James Dio replaced Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath, I daresay you now LOVE him more than Ozzy, and even more so now that Dio is your metal-martyr. You say that Metallica sold out by giving samples for the hip-hop song "We Did It Again" and for recording a cover-album Garage Inc, as well as recording an album in down-tuning (St. Anger)....well, Kerry King from Slayer appeared on the Beastie Boys song "No Sleep 'Till Brooklyn" (and Beastie Boys are as c-rap-y as rap-bands come these days), plus didn't Slayer release Undisputed Attitude, which is a cover-album, as well as another original album in dropped-tuning? Funny, no one is saying that Slayer sucks! 3. Covering songs is not allowed...for bands that are considered non-metal, that is! Metallica, Avenged SevenFold, Killswitch Engage, Dimmu Borgir and Cradle Of Filth cover other bands' material, and they are hated by you all...but Iron Maiden covers songs and its ok? Slayer covers songs and its also okay? Motörhead covers two songs from Metallica's discography, and they're better than the originals, so much that you dare say "f*ck Metallica", even though there wouldn't be the cover version had the original not existed (as you wish it hadn't). 4. Fandom is selective. For instance, Ozzy was kicked out of Black Sabbath for drug abuse (even though the rest of the band did it as well), went on to make a billion-dollar solo-career and achieve global fame, and you hate him and love his replacement, Dio. However, Dave Mustaine was kicked out of Metallica for drug abuse (even though the rest of the band did it as well), went on to make a billion-dollar career with Megadeth and achieve global fame, and he is hailed as a god second only to Lemmy while everyone hates his replacement Kirk Hammett. When people you consider to be good die, such as Cliff Burton, Quorthon and Ronnie James Dio, you hold your moments of silence and say your "RIP"s to them and give them more respect than life itself...but when someone you hate dies like The Rev or Paul Gray, then you're about ready to piss on his grave in front of the deceased's family to show that you still hate them even after they've died. 5. It is ok for a band to be mutually and loved and respected world-wide...as long as that world-wide love and respect is exclusive only to the metal genre. Even this rule is broken! Iron Maiden is without a doubt the most popular-metal-band in the history of the genre, but no one calls them mainstream for it. Megadeth is loved and respected world-wide, and your public-enemy-number-one (no, not Metallica, Anette Olzon, Cradle Of Filth, George Bush, Jesus Christ or even me) MTV used Peace Sells as its theme-song, but yet they're never hated for it! I'm done! I've had every piece of shite in the crapper thrown at me and been called every name you know, but I'm not going to give up! You say you like Cliff Burton, even though you frown upon "doing your own thing regardless of whether or not its mutually hated", well I believe in his message and therefore I say that if you consider me a sell-out...then...what-the-fuck-ever! Category:Blog posts